の = of ?

How do you "output" your target language? Do you have a language exchange partner? Do you go to a conversation class and have speaking activities? It's great if you have a chance of speaking your target language!

Writing is also good for output. I practice writing Chinese (Mandarin) and Farsi (Persian) on lang-8. I can get many corrections and advice from native speakers, and in return, I check my friend's entries in Japanese. It's very interesting, don't you think so? =)
(How to type Japanese on your laptop)

Today I'm going to tell you about a common mistake in Japanese, which I found through correcting my friend's entries. And it's about one of the Japanese particles! (The particles, AGAIN!)

Here it is, NO! No? No, no, it's the particle の/no/ !! It's mainly used to show possession.

父（ちち）の靴下（くつした）は臭（くさ）い。
/chichi no kutsushita wa kusai/
My father's socks are stinky.

この臭（くさ）い靴下（くつした）は父（ちち）のだ。
/kono kusai kutsushita wa chichi no da/
This stinky socks are my father's.

廊下（ろうか）に落（お）ちてたんだけど、誰（だれ）のパンツ？
/rouka ni ochitetan dakedo, dareno pantsu/
I found it in the corridor, but who's underpants are these?


In this case, の can be directly translated into 的 in Mandarin Chinese.

父　　　　　　　の　　　　　　靴下

father    　    's              socks

爸爸            的             襪子


If you're mother tongue is Mandarin, you have to mind that 的 can't be always translated into の in Japanese. 的 in Mandarin is inserted between the adjective and the noun, but it's different from Japanese grammar.

臭い　　　　　　　　　　　　　靴下

stinky                          socks

很臭            的             襪子


You see, 臭いの靴下 is wrong. By the way, if it's na-adjective, you should put な before the noun.

完ぺき　　　　　な　　　　　靴下

perfect                       socks

很完美          的          襪子



I wonder, how do your language connect the adjective and the noun? Simply putting them together like English, or put particles between them like Chinese? Or, is the noun come before the adjective like Persian? =D


Anyway, here're some other functions of Japanese particle の!!

(1) Preposition
バスの中に携帯（けいたい）を忘れてしまった。
/basu no naka ni keitai wo wasurete shimatta/
I left my mobile on a bus.

図書館（としょかん）の横（よこ）においしいラーメン屋（や）がある。
/toshokan no yoko ni oishii raamen-ya ga aru/
There's a nice ramen shop beside the library.

(2) The one
髪（かみ）が長（なが）いのが私（わたし）の妹（いもうと）です。
/kami ga nagai no ga watashi no imouto desu/
The one who has long hair is my younger sister.

もっと小（ちい）さいのが欲（ほ）しいです。
/motto chiisai no ga hoshii desu/
I want the one which is smaller.

さっき泣（な）いていたのは誰（だれ）ですか？
/sakki naite ita no ha dare desuka/
Who's the one that was crying a short time ago?


(3) Ending particle
It makes the sentence sound soft. It sounds kinda womanish if you use it too much times!



Okay, let's call it a day! Thank you all for reading my blog, and thank you Hirou, for suggesting me to write this post. =) See you again!